Oracle’s Profit Up 16% on Software Demand

Oracle Corp. said strong demand for its computer software lifted profit for its latest quarter by 16% after costs to acquire another software developer. The world’s second-largest software company said profit for its fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28 was $169 million, or 25 cents a share. Oracle earned $146 million, or 22 cents, for the year-ago period. The new results include one-time costs of $37 million for Oracle’s acquisition of Valhalla, N.Y.-based Datalogix, a network software company. Excluding those costs, Oracle’s results matched analysts’ expectations. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Oracle’s profit rose 37%, to $462 million from $337 million. Revenue for the same period rose 35%, to $3.74 billion from $2.76 billion. The Redwood Shores-based company reported its results after the market closed. Its shares closed at $36.125, up $2, on Nasdaq.